On Tuesday, May 10th the owners of the Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee announced that the track was suspending operations until further notice. Well, further notice has been issued as the track ownership has announced that the facility will uphold its agreement to host the Southern All Stars Series race with Chris Corum serving as the event promoter.

Earlier this week, Corum was relieved of his duties as the promoter at the 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tennessee by track owner Mitch McCarter. Little time passed before SMS owners Roger Sellers, Larry Garner, Stanley Best and Kevin Coffey seized the opportunity to employ Corum, who had guided the 411 track through the better part of three successful seasons.

“This deal is just for me to promote this one race on June 18th,” Corum said. “We have not talked about anything beyond that as far as me running the track on a regular basis. After that race it will be up to them to decide how they want to proceed from there.”

Smoky Mountain temporarily halted activities at the facility after the new ownership team of Sellers, Garner and Best decided that car counts and attendance had dropped to the point that it was no longer feasible to continue operations as they were.

“I’ve had a number of opportunities be presented to me since Wednesday,” Corum said. “This deal at Smoky Mountain is an opportunity to see what else is out there and explore those options”

Corum also stated that he has been invited to visit a track in Illinois that is jointly owned by the team of Tony Stewart, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace to discuss the possibility of him directing a speedway in that area. “I don’t know if I want to move my family to Illinois but it is something to consider and I’m flattered that they contacted me,” Corum added. “I’ll definitely go up there and see what it’s all about.”

The SAS race at Smoky Mountain will be a $5,000 to win event and will be the second trip for the series to the east Tennessee track.